These thoughts represent my life as a poet and my questions, amazing moments, poignant exchanges, compassion, and outrage at times, gathered as I work in public school and community settings. My goal is to instill a passion for language, reading, writing, and the art of poetry in anyone willing to suspend belief that they cannot express or interpret for themselves.

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Thursday, September 19, 2013

So it has been a rough few years, as I have bemoaned in my last few, sparse postings. It was a time of deep digging to my own truth and often it was not pretty. There was a darkness that was as thick as tar, as persistent as eczema, as stark as the tundra. But enough of the metaphors. I am returning to the light heart, the sun, the optimism that has fueled me through most of the storms of my life. I am choosing to look forward with joy.

I have always known my selfhood is anchored in being a poet. There are those whose lofty sensibilities cause them to say, "I cannot claim the title of poet; only the greats can do that." I wholeheartedly disagree. I claim it fully and truly. I spent a decade questioning, even denying it, but my world is more balanced when I acknowledge that poet is who I am, what I do, what I crave, what I teach, how I live. And at last, I am producing work that is a glimpse of that level of development and persistence that I have dreamed of achieving. It is rather remarkable because it is just appearing on the page.

I am not a complacent person. Especially with my writing. I will not accept too many iterations before I annoy myself. I now strive to be a poet with many dimensions in the work, when I once accepted a 2-dimensional postcard with a pretty image and perhaps a clever metaphor. This means I do not write every image or sound that drifts through my head. I also wait for the poem that refuses to not be written, the poem that will not silence itself, that one that requires ink and attention. Sometimes they slam onto the page with no prior warning. Sometimes they tarry in the gray matter until they feel fully prepared to reveal themselves. But they are arriving with regularity and I am thrilled.

I will be seeing my third collection of poetry come into physical being in about 14 months. My fourth is half complete, a fifth is a third complete, and I have nonfiction working at me. I will also plan on blogging much more often, with regularity, about anything that I feel like writing.

I started this blog to share my experiences as a teaching artist. That led to the writing and publication of Our Difficult Sunlight. Now I will share whatever, with a focus on my perspective on what it takes to write a good word, line, stanza, poem, cycle, chapbook, collection. It will be fun, I hope. Outrageous at times. Silly or poignant. Not sure. I do know it will be me...Georgia A. Popoff, Community Poet, Human Being.

About Me

I am a poet based in Central New York, I have published two collections of poetry, one chapbook, and coauthored a text for teachers on poetry in public classrooms. I serve as an board member of the Comstock Writers Group and managing editor of their literary journal, the Comstock Review. Additionally, I am a faculty member and workshops coordinator of the Downtown Writer's Center (the Syracuse, NY, chapter of the YMCA Writers Voice); and a teaching artist specializing in literacy, reading comprehension, professional development, and arts-based learning through the vehicle of poetry. Thanks for visiting my blog. I hope you will make many return trips to view my comments and add your own.

Fall DWC Readings Draw to a Close
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The fall season at the DWC is winding down and what a tremendous success!
Now in our 11th year, we have had the best attendance for our reading
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Unsung Heroes Video Profile

This is a lovely video of me by the talented Keith Kobland, of Syracuse University's News Services, from the 2014 Unsung Heroes Awards. What an honor!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QG0SqyOgNVg

"Our Difficult Sunlight" is available at amazon.com, powells.com, & barnesandnoble.com.

"I dove into "Our Difficult Sunlight" as a colleague, eager to exercise in the refreshing intelligence and heart of Popoff and Lansana - hoping to discover new teaching approaches, new tools to open up literacy and redress cultural inequity, renewed excitement about the power of art. I got all that and more in the generous, abundant, fierce gifts that fill every page. However, I completed my first swim through their sea renewed as an artist myself, eager to apply my own hand and voice to the fundamental act of making things that matter. After a career spent in developing the field of teaching artistry, I found myself humbled and honored to be considered a colleague of teaching artists who bring mastery of artistic and learning processes together in such a beautiful and effective way." - Eric Booth, author of "The Music Teaching Artist's Bible" and "The Everyday Work of Art," and International Arts Learning Consultant

Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention, Manning Marable's dense and copious work, the last of his life, also nominated for an NAACP Image Award.

Ready Player One, Ernest Cline's first novel in which he peers into the virtual reality of 2045, yet full of 80s memorabilia.

Vocabulary of Silence, a stunning book of poetry by Veronica Golos.Just Kids, Patti Smith's poignant and tender memoir of her life as a young artist, and the love between her and Robert Mapplethorpe.The Bad Secret, Judith Harris' collection of poems is a quiet, constrained triumph of healing.

We Got Here, Wendy Mnookin's first collection from BOA, the poems of fear, surrender, and triumph as the mother of a heroin addict.

Blue Front, Martha Collins' astounding and very significant book-length poem that investigates racism in America, through the circumstance of an appalling lynching in Cairo, OH, in the early 20th century.

For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide when the Rainbow Is Enuf, Ntozake Shange's timeless investigation of the dreams, pains, fears, and successes of young women of color. Sadly and gloriously still highly relevant.

My Music of the Moment...

WISE UP GHOST!!! Elvis Costello and the Roots (notice a trend here?!)

Justin TimberlakeBeethoven's 9th SymphonyAnything by the Pimps of Joytime!!!Betty Wright with the Roots (who could resist?)Etta James Etta James Etta James!Anything by the RootsAloe BlaccMayer HawthorneBettye LaVetteCee-LoDamian MarleyAnthony Hamilton (of course)

Favorite Films I Recommend

Beyond the Sea

Henry Poole Is Here

The Great Buck Howard

Get Low

Ghost Town

The Answer Man

The Invention of Lying [my current favorite]

The Big Lebowski (#1 Choice - I am a Little Lebowski Urban Achiever)

Radio Lab

Postscript

I appreciate you for visiting my blog and sharing my thoughts with me. As I navigate my life as a poet, wending through as a teaching artist in both the public school system and community as a teaching artist, I will offer my perspectives on craft, pedagogy, politics, the sky over my head, perhaps. I hope you find likemindedness, inspiration, and humor as you walk the labyrinth that is inside my head with me . Namaste.